Genealogy Explanations

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Things you might want to know about how we use various genealogy practices on this site.

Generation Numbers

Generation numbers are superscript numbers or letters in italic font (^{2,1, A, B,}) that designate a person’s generation. They appear after the first names of each person in the parenthetical summary of descent. The immigrant who was the first to arrive is numbered 1. If you are including the parent of that person who remained in the home country, you use the letter: A.

Example for one of our Pike lines: (Agnes Bethany⁸>Warren Henry⁷>Henry⁶>Samuel^5-4Nathaniel³>James^2-1). If we knew the father of James¹ who remained in England, he would be numbered John^A. The names James and Samuel were used sequentially in the family, so the name is used once with both generation numbers.

U.S. Place Names

Place names are generally recorded using the standard format “City, County, State, Country” to differentiate similar locations and enable software mapping. It is not necessary to use the term “County” in the county name. Example: Red Oak, Montgomery, Iowa, USA. Generally, genealogists prefer to use the place name used at the time of the event. If an event occurred in Red Oak between March 20, 1876 and 1901, the town name Red Oak Junction would be used. My personal preference when presenting place information to non-genealogists (i.e. this website), is to use the current place name and add a note explaining any relevant historical name change.

The term "Town" can be confusing. For example, in the Midwest we think of a "Town" as being a small city, or a village. Several eastern states use the term "Town" to mean what we might think of as Township. The eastern "Towns" are a local state authority, while the midwestern Townships are subordinate to a County. It's even more confusing when there is a city or village within a Town that has the same name as the Town. In New York, Lake George is a village in the Town of Lake George, Warren County. In Iowa, we have the village of Red Oak in the Township of Red Oak, Montgomery County. We have tried to be clear in our place names, but there are sometimes an event that we don't know whether it occurred in a Town/Township or a City/Village.

German Place Names

Place Names in German genealogy use the place name as recorded in the Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, commonly referred to as “Meyers Gaz.” European countries changed boundaries and names frequently over hundreds of years. Meyers Gaz uses a standard of using place names in Germany as they existed during the German Empire (1871-1918).

For example, Köngen is listed in Meyers Gaz as “Köngen, Esslingen, Neckarkreis, Württemberg.” This is an administrative sequence similar to City, County, State, and Country, but the terms are not the same. Köngen is the village, Esslingen is the town with higher administrative departments, Neckarkreis is a district somewhat comparable to County, and Württemberg is the kingdom or state.

Example: Today Köngen is a municipality in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, about nine kilometers from the district city Esslingen and Neckar and about six kilometers away from Nürtingen. It is part of the Stuttgart Region and the European Stuttgart Metropolitan Region.